August 6 - Badlands

Today we kicked off the day spending an hour with a Ranger who discussed the black footed ferret. These little guys were thought to be extinct in 1979 until a dog brought one home to a rancher in Wyoming. Now there are about a 1000 or so in the wild. We drove the Badlands park loop and stopped to: hike short trails, view a bison crossing the road, look at the prairie dogs, and visit a fossil excavation site where 2 days ago they unearthed a skull from an extinct warthog like creature. The Badlands is the one of the most densely populated fossil areas in the US so digs are usually in some part of the park. This particular one was started because a hiker found the bone sticking out of the ground in 1993. We wrapped up the day visiting Wall Drug. We were surrounded by about 200 bikers because this is bike week in Sturgis, which is a sort drive north of the Badands area. I've never seen so many motorcycles in one place in my life. This morning I just barely made it through the sea of bikes to get gas at the gas station. Tomorrow we will drive to the Mt. Rushmore area for two nights. Oh, and by the way, if you are curious about the poll, we are thinking about 2 weeks for transition. We'll see how the family is holding up by the end of September.